Donate to reputable groups, volunteer says

Nancy Schraer, an RN who was part of The Hope for Haiti team that traveled to Haiti, has some words of advice for anyone planning to send money or supplies to the devastated Caribbean nation.

Schraer says to use a reputable and established organization that will ensure supplies go to help the people who need it the most.

Schraer said she stayed behind at a separate orphanage in Quanaminthe after the other four team members returned home. At the orphanage, she asked the administrator what the American people could do to help. His immediate response, she said, was for them to send money so the orphanage could purchase food and clothing.

But as Schraer looked around the orphanage, she saw piles and piles of clothing, food and water. New metal bunk beds were stored, unused, in a backroom while many of the Haitian orphans slept four to a bed.

She said one thing Haitians really need right now are people to teach them how to cook, clean and take care of themselves. Those lessons, she said, will last long after the aid workers go home.